• Over time scattered groups of people who spoke the Indic languages spread across northern India and made contact with speakers of Dravidian ( another ancient Language)

• They would exchange their religious beliefs and traditions.

• This created a single "Vedic" culture in India.

• Sanskrit texts continued to be produced after the Vedic period.

• Texts Dravidian languages ( Tamil and Telugu) began to appear around 300 BCE and a large number of written works were produced until the 1st century C.E

• During this ancient period of Indian history, texts written in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages were passed down for generations in India through a very complex oral tradition.

Ancient Indian Society

• Royal and commercial towns rose along India's Ganges River as the Aryans settled into India.

• Most people continued to farm, others specialized in carpentry or weaving, and some took part in trade.

• As the economy grew, social classes developed

Varnas

• Social class in India was a religious, social and cultural matter.

• Priests,​ leaders and other elites used religion to justify their high place in society.

• Varnas are the four social classes of ancient India.

• People were members of Varna based on their jobs, personal behaviors and the social class they were born into.

- Brahmins were priests ( people who perform religious ceremonies but not all religious teachers (sages) were Brahmins - Vyasa and Valmiki are sages who were not born into Brahmins.

Kshatriyas were warriors and governors who ran the government and army

Vaisyas (commoners)

Sudras (Manual Laborers)

• farmers, craftspeople and merchants were Vaisyas.

• Sudras were below the Vaisyas and were manual workers and servants. Most Indians were born into the Sudra Class.

• Higher classes are seen as purer than lower ones

• relations between them are seen as spiritual purity. or impurity.

• Over centuries customs developed to keep the different classes from mixing. This is not different from any other social system in other ancient civilizations

• Caste system is a system where people remain in the same social group for life.

• Each Jati has their own strict dietary and marriage rules and customs.

• Jati determines the jobs that people can take, affect the choice of marriage partners

Jati: a caste sytem

Dalits

• 500 CE a community that came to exist outside of the Jati.

• This system is called the Dalits

• They are known as the untouchables

• They do work that Jati could not do like sanitation, disposal of dead animals and cremation (burning the dead)